Night sight



1 441. OR 299879871 SR SEARQH RQQW June 13, 1961 ETTLER 2,987,821

NIGHT SIGHT Filed May 19, 1959 IN VEN TOR.

JacKE KBLHEP United States Patent 2,987,821 NIGHT SIGHT Jack F. Kettler, Fort Leavenworth, Kans., assig or to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed May 19, 1959, Ser. No. 814,356 1 Claim. (CI. 3352) (Granted under Title '35, U.S. Code (1952), see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a night sight and more particularly to a sight which is useful under all light conditions and is applicable to all type weapons on which visual sights are employed.

There has long been .a need for a sighting device for guns, particularly rifles, which is effective at night from starlight through full moon and artificial light conditions and yet be light and simple. The ideal sight is one which is light enough so as to not add appreciably to the foot soldiers load and simple enough so that training required in its use in minimal. Obviously, at night, as well as in the daytime, sights must be seen to be used and when used must not obscure the target.

A special purpose night sight now in use is the Sniperscope. This sight is heavy, expensive and ditficult to service and maintain and is practicable only for the specialized duty for which it was designed; i.e. sniping.

The night sight of the present invention provides a phosphorescent spot which is visible to the aimer at low light intensities. When the light intensity reaches approximately one-half moon the ambient light destroys the usefulness of a luminous spot. The sight is further provided with a highly reflective hemi-spherical surface which provides a point of light for sighting purposes at over one-half moon light intensities. For aiming purposes a pair of the night sights are employed with the Inminous spots and reflective surfaces equally vertically spaced. This permits the use of either pair of sighting elements (i.e. luminous spots or reflective surfaces) with high accuracy at short to medium range without requiring rezeroing of the gun.

An object of this invention is to provide a sight which is efiective under all conditions of night light.

Another object is to provide a night sight which is small, light and easy to manufacture.

Yet another object is to provide a night sight which is simple in its use and easily applied or removed from a gun.

Another object of the invention is to provide a night sight having a luminous portion and a highly reflective portion.

Still another object is to provide a pair of sights for a gun which have equally vertically spaced luminous spots and highly reflective surfaces.

These and other objects will become more apparent when reference is had to the following detailed description and drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a conventional rifle with the night sight applied to the sight thereof,

FIGURE 2 is a view of the front sight looking in the direction of the arrows 2-2 in FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a view of the rear sight looking in the direction of the arrows 3-3 in FIGURE 1.

The night sight of the present invention is illustrated in FIGURE 1 as being applied to the conventional M-l rifle 1 having the usual front and rear sights 2 and 3, respectively. It is to be understood that the invention is Patented June 13, 1961 not restricted in use to the M-1 rifle, but is equally applicable to other type rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers or any other type weapon requiring visual sighting.

The night front sight is indicated in general reference character 4 and is shown in detail in FIGURE 2. The sight comprises a base portion 5 shown broken away, but which is so formed at the bottom as to slip on or snap on the standard front sight 2 of the rifle.

Connected to the base portion is the upstanding post 6. The base and post may be made of any suitable material such as steel or plastic. Applied to the post 6 near the top thereof is a round spot 7 of luminous material such as radium-activated phosphorous compound of commercial grade. Applied to the top of the post 6 is the highly reflective element 8. This element may be hemispherical and connected to the top surface of the post or spherical and imbedded in a recess in the top end of the post so that half of the ball is exposed as shown. The ball is preferably made of plated or stainless steel.

The rear night sight is similar to the front sight and is indicated in general at 9. It is provided with the base portion 10 adapted to be mounted on the rear peep sight 3 of the rifle, the post 11, luminous spot 12 and highly reflective element 13, all similar to the corresponding elements of the front sight 4.

The following dimensions are given as exemplary only, but are indicative of the size of the night sights as applied to the M-1 rifle. Each sight is dimensioned so that the top of the reflective elements are A" above the standard front and rear sights. The luminous spot 7 and reflective element 8 on the front sight are of %6 diameter while the luminous spot 12 and reflective element 13 are of k" diameter. The dimensions a and b between the centers of the luminous spots and the tops of the reflective elements are equal and as small as is practicable. While the exact dimensions are not critical it is important that the tops of the reflective elements be the same distance above the standard gun sights and that the distances a and b be equal. Obviously, the dimensions would vary for different weapons.

In use the multilite sights provide a very reliable sight system for night firing under all light conditions. For light conditions of approximately one-half moon or less the luminous spots are clearly visible and are used by the firer in sighting.

To aim, when using the luminous spots as night sights, spot 7, on the front gun sight, is held on the target in the usual manner and the rear spot 12 on the rear gun sight is held in a substantially horizontal plane with the front sight, but slightly to one side so that the front spot is still visible. Then the rear sight is moved horizontally until it obscures the front spot and the weapon is fired.

When light conditions exceed one-half moon the ambient light destroys the usefulness of the luminous spots, but suflicient light is available to provide a pinpoint of light which is visible on the topmost surface of the highly reflective elements which are then used for sighting. The night sights are made so that the reflective elements are the same height above the standard gun sights so that minimum rezeroing is necessary when applied to an already zeroed gun. While the reflective elements and luminous spots are vertically displaced from one another, there is no appreciable zero change noted over 200 yards since they are closely related and since the dimensions a and b are equal. The dimensions a and b being equal provides parallel lines of sight with the reflective elements and luminous spots.

It will be apparent that the embodiment shown is only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim: In combination with a gun having a front and a rear sight, a pair of identical night sights connected, one each, to the aforesaid front and rear sights, each said night sight comprising a base portion adapted to receive said front and rear sights respectively, an upstanding post carried by said base, a round spot of luminous material applied to the rearward face of and disposed near the top thereof, the spot on the first post being of larger diameter than the spot in the rear post, and a rounded, highly reflective element fixed in an upwardly reflecting position to the top of said post, said spot and said rounded element on each said post being arranged in vertical alignment and in equal spaced relation from the respective zontal plane.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lyman Aug. 31, 1886 Tufts Apr. 5, 1910 Del Borgo May 8, 1917 Butler July 18, 1922 Spencer Oct. 24, 1922 Watson July 15, 1930 Conant Nov. 10, 1959 

